


the gentlest feeling

by 1000_directions



Series: luckyverse [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Banter, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Nightmares, Peter Sucks And Everyone Knows It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 17:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000_directions/pseuds/1000_directions
Summary: Freddie has a nightmare; Peterisa nightmare.





	the gentlest feeling

_If I ask you a question, can you answer it like an actual helpful and thoughtful person who is ostensibly my friend and not like a gigantic asshole?_ Bucky texts Peter one night. Peter sends him back an image of a Magic 8-Ball displaying the text “Outlook not so good.” Bucky rolls his eyes at no one, vows once again to find some new friends, and considers his reply.

Bucky is lounging in bed while Louis showers, and the muted rhythmic sound of the falling water is soothing. Bucky tends to shower in the morning after he goes for a run, but Louis just does it whenever he feels like it. Sometimes that’s at night, sometimes it’s in the morning. Sometimes he just hops in when Bucky does. Sometimes when it’s the weekend and they aren’t going anywhere, he waits it out a few days, shrugging off one pair of sweats and pulling on another with mussed hair and a sleepy grin. Bucky doesn’t mind. Louis never really sweats enough to smell bad, he just always smells like Louis. It’s just a little more pronounced and lived in the next day, and there’s something nice about pressing his face to the back of Louis’ neck and just inhaling the sweet, sleepy scent of him.

Jesus, he’s fucking whipped.

_How do I change the background on my phone to a picture of Freddie and Louis?_ he texts Peter before he loses his nerve.

_SHUT UP_  
_THATS SO DUCKING CUTE_  
_DUCKING_  
_DUCKING_  
_FUCKINH_  
_DUCK_  
_TATS SO CUTE YOU GUYS ARE DISGUSTING_

Bucky’s screen goes black for a minute, and when it turns back on, the background is a crudely photoshopped picture of Bucky and Peter kissing. Peter has some kind of weird backdoor access to Bucky’s phone, and this is not the first time he has made this exact same joke. It wasn’t funny the first time, and it gets less funny on each subsequent occasion. Bucky calls him immediately.

“Fix my background and then delete my number,” Bucky says as soon as Peter picks up.

“Maybe you’d have more friends if you were nicer,” Peter says.

“Don’t give me a lecture about being nice,” Bucky says. “You literally hacked my phone. Fucking fix it.”

“Fine, fine,” Peter grumbles. “Which picture do you want? The one with the three of you at Freddie’s party is cute.”

“No, not a picture with me,” Bucky says. He hears the water turn off; they need to finish this conversation before Louis comes back in. “I want the one with Louis and Freddie feeding an apple to a horse.” And then he realizes something. “Freddie’s party was like six months ago. Are you going through my entire camera roll? Fucking knock it off.”

“I’m the smartest person you know, and I’d be a dangerous enemy,” Peter says before hanging up.

Bucky waits until his phone background switches to the picture he’d requested before texting Peter _Shuri is the smartest person I know_ , and then he immediately deletes Peter’s contact and turns off his phone.

A few minutes later, Louis wanders back into the bedroom, a towel slung low on his hips, his hastily dried hair sticking up at every possible angle. His torso gleams slightly where rivulets of water are still streaming down. He’s a beautiful disaster.

“Looking good, Tomlinson,” Bucky says as Louis unceremoniously drops his towel and steps into his boxers. Louis isn’t modest at all, but that’s okay, because Bucky likes to look. It’s not even sexual, not usually; he just appreciates what he has.

“You like what you see?” Louis asks with a brilliant grin, picking up his towel and spinning it like a lasso.

“Your hair looks like a bird’s nest,” Bucky tells him, and Louis flings the towel at him. Bucky catches it easily with one hand and starts folding it as Louis crawls into bed.

“Tell me I’m fit,” Louis demands, dramatically plopping down onto his side of the bed.

“You’re so fucking fit,” Bucky dutifully responds with a Yorkshire accent that is approximately ten thousand times more accurate than the pitiful Brooklyn accent Louis attempts at times.

“Goddamn right I’m fit,” Louis grouses, slithering under the covers. Bucky ruffles his damp hair and then lazily kisses his pouting mouth until he smiles.

“You’re beautiful,” Bucky promises.

“Cheers,” Louis says softly, and then his smile turns a little wicked as he asks hopefully, “Don’t suppose you’re in any mood to fool around?” Bucky considers it for a moment, but it’s late, and he’s tired, and he can’t imagine getting into that headspace any time soon.

“Not really,” Bucky says apologetically. “But if you’re truly committed to negating the shower you just had, you can rub off on me while I pet your hair and tell you you’re sexy.”

“I’ll take it,” Louis murmurs. He kisses Bucky softly as he slides on top of him, and he’s only just cradling Bucky’s thigh with his hips when they hear a timid knock on the door. Louis closes his eyes and breathes out through his nose, and then he calls out, “Is that you, Freddie?”

“Yeah.”

Louis rolls back onto his side of the bed as the door creaks open. Freddie is standing there in his Iron Man pajamas with a blanket wound around him and his Winter Soldier doll clutched in both arms. Cliff is trailing behind him, gnawing happily at the edge of the blanket dragging on the ground.

“You okay, lad?” Louis asks softly as Freddie pads into the room with Cliff in tow.

“I had a bad dream,” he says.

“What about Cliff?”

“He had a bad dream, too,” Freddie says very seriously.

“You want to sleep in here with us tonight?” Louis asks, and Freddie nods.

“You gonna be okay?” Bucky whispers to Louis as Freddie shuts the door behind himself.

“I’m fine,” Louis whispers back. “There’s no bigger boner killer than your kid being scared.”

Freddie clambers up onto the bed and plops down between the two of them.

“Oi, Fred, get on this side, give Bucky some space,” Louis says.

“I wanna be in the middle!” Freddie protests.

“No, it’s fine,” Bucky says. “You can stay right here. I’ll keep you safe.”

“And Cliff?” Freddie asks, as the dog jumps onto the bed, walks in a circle three times, then settles heavily on their feet.

“Bucky will keep everyone safe,” Louis says. “He’s our own personal superhero. He’s stronger than anyone else out there.”

“What about Spider-Man?” Freddie asks suspiciously.

“C’mon,” Louis says with a scowl. “You know Bucky’s stronger than any scrawny Spider-Man. Make a muscle, Buck.”

“I’m not making a muscle,” Bucky says, flushing slightly. Louis is right, of course. Peter is a scrawny little punk and Bucky could knock him out with his metal arm tied behind his back, and he will assuredly be texting Peter about how much everyone thinks he sucks as soon as he remembers to add his contact back. But it’s weirdly embarrassing to have Louis acknowledge this incredibly obvious fact, especially in front of Freddie.

“Make a muscle! Make a muscle!” Louis and Freddie begin chanting together, and Bucky shakes his head, because what did he ever do to deserve these two idiots, but he acquiesces eventually, and they both ooh over his biceps, and he blushes even more.

“What about you, Dad?” Freddie asks. “Are you strong?”

“Of course I’m strong,” Louis says indignantly. “I’m the strongest man in the world.”

Bucky promptly tips Louis flat on his back and keeps him pinned down to the bed with two fingers to his sternum, because Louis is lying, and you shouldn’t lie to children.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Louis sputters.

“Language,” Bucky and Freddie say in unison, and then Freddie lets out a monstrous yawn.

“Enough mucking around,” Louis says with as much dignity as he can muster while lying flat on his back. “It is bedtime for all superheroes in this bed. Including me. I’m super.”

“I think you’re super,” Bucky says with a grin.

“Superdad,” Freddie says sleepily. “You have to do bedtime kisses.”

“Of course I’m going to do bedtime kisses,” Louis says, pretending to be affronted at the possibility that he could have forgotten something so important. “Who needs them?”

“Me and Bucky,” Freddie says.

“Your Bucky or my Bucky?”

“Both,” Freddie insists.

“All right then,” Louis says. He squeezes Bucky’s hand and then presses a chaste kiss to his forehead, saying, “Goodnight, big Bucky.” Then he kisses the face of Freddie’s doll and says, “Goodnight, little Bucky,” and Bucky smiles in spite of himself, and he keeps smiling while Louis kisses Freddie and says, “Goodnight, big Freddie.” These are his boys. This is his family. He never would have thought it was possible, but here they all are, and Bucky’s going to make sure they all stay safe, all night long.

“G’night, Dad,” Freddie says through another yawn. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, Freddie son,” Louis says fondly.

“G’night, Bucky,” Freddie mumbles, curling up on his side. “Love you.”

Freddie’s never said that before. He’s _never_ said that before, and Bucky doesn’t breathe for a moment, just thinking about it. He looks down at the child looking up at him, trusting and innocent and so unmistakably Louis’ son, this funny and smart and kind little boy who has come into his life and brought so much brightness and energy, and he says very softly, “Night, Freddie. Love you.”

Bucky looks over at Louis, sees the blinding smile on his face, and he knows it’s mirrored on his own. He reaches over and turns off the light, and Bucky and Louis and Freddie and Cliff all go to sleep.

They both get yelled at by Briana a few days later when Freddie asks her what a boner killer is, but it’s worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> always accepting prompts at [tumblr](http://1000-directions.tumblr.com/ask)


End file.
